Cooking material receptacle and spoon leveler



"Nov; 12, 1940. w. L. LONGAN 2,221,355

COQK ING MATERIAL RECEPTAGLE AND SPOON LEVELBR Filed Feb. 7,1939

Patented Nov. 12, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE-t COOKING MATERIAL RECEPTACLE AND SPOON LEVELER William L Longan, Dimmitt, Tex., assignor of onehalf to E. K. Longan, Wichita Falls, Tex.

Application February 7, 1939, Serial No. 255,122

4 Claims. (01. 221-446) This invention relates toimprovements in ma- In the drawing: i terial storage bins or receptacles and pertains Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the device particularly to an improved plural bin recepembodying the present invention, showing the tacl-e designed for the storage of materials used bin cover open. t

u in cooking. Fig. 2 is a detailed sectional view illustrating 5 In the art of cooking, use is constantly made the use of the spoon leveling means. i of a variety of ground, granulated or powdered Referring ow more P rly to the drawmaterials such as salt, baking powder, bicaring, the numeral I generally designates a rebonate of soda and numerous spices or other ceptacle having a low front wall portion 2 and condiments, and it frequently occurs that in side walls 3, the forward edges of which are cut measuring out these various substances it is necto extend rearwardly and upwardly, as indicated essary to bring out a large number of individual at to a Point Short Of t e top e s t e e receptacles which in addition to adding to the and then ex ended upw r ly n forw y, as work involved, adds to the number of items which indicated at 5. A top 6 s ingedly a a d to must be moved about during the preparation of he r ceptacle I, s h wn, n hr h h s p,

the food. The present invention has for one of access may be had 0 t e e e a s or @0111- its primary objects to provide a, compact group partments in which the interior of the receptacle of bins or containers all arranged in a single re- 8 divided. ceptacle and provided with a common cov r or The receptacle here illustrated is shown as lid so that the several different materials rehavin wo v r i l par i i W lls each f 20 quired in the cooking operation will be readily at Which e e s from t e front Wall 2 t0 the back hand inone receptacle and easy to obtain when 0f the receptacle and f o e bottom t t wanted. top thereof, thus dividing the receptacle into Another object; of th inventio i t provide three bins 8, but it is to be understood that the in association with mat rial c ntaine of th invention is not to be limited to the number of 25 above described character, a novel means for bins Shown, as it Will be readily Obvious that leveling a spoon which has been dipped into any there may be DrOVided a receptacle av a less one of the several materials in the container, greater number of hills Without departing f om which leveling means is so arranged with respect the p t Of the inventionto the individual bins of the container or re- Disposed Within e p a ea between the ceptacl-e that there is no possible chance of the edges 4 0f h h -W is a Sp u h t e materials becoming mixed one with another. back of Whlch 15 Indicated y e u eral '9 A further object of the invention is to pro and forms an p y d forwar y e te vide plural bin receptacl having the above front Wall which is continued down into the redescribed features and provided with a novelly =q between the Side Walls and then e es arranged spoon receptacle, the lower part or W1th the forwardly and downwardly inclined botbottom of which constitutes the leveling means tom porno H 0f the trough a termmates m described, and is so designed that it will not only g i i zggg fi i fg s i g f g fg iz gg g gfi m n nt ii e iptifi bui i ll ge fa if s ii n e is ioi misfif r l i e m be m 40 parallel relation if desired, but it is important Preakmg any lumps of f l that the bottom wall ll be inclined downwardly may be m the spoon as matenal 1S bemg and forwardly as shown, and that the corner leveled formed between the walls in and I2 be relatively The invention will be best HfidErStOOd r widely rounded, as indicated at l3, for the pur- 5 a consideration of the following detailed descrippose hereinafter d ib d tion taken in connection with the accompany The partitions I extend back from the front drawing forming part of this specification, with wall 2 and are formed to follow the contour of the understanding, however, that the invention the bottom of thetrough 9 and to extend upis not to. be confinedto any strict conformity wardly along the back wall ll] of the trough 9 with the showing of the drawing but may be to the top of the receptacle I, so that the bins changed or modified so long as such changes 8', back of the trough l9, are of the same depth or modifications mark no material departure as the interior of the receptacle. The front Wall from the salient features of the invention as H) of the receptacle, or the back wall of the expressed in the appended claims. trough, has secured thereto the latch M which 55 is employed for holding the top 6 in closed position. Hingedly attached to the upper part of the front wall 2, as indicated at I5, is a bin and spoon trough cover or lid l6 which, when closed, rests upon the top edges 4 of the side walls and has its free end edge in close proximity to the wall l0 so that it closely covers the trough 9 as well as the bins in which the cooking materials are placed.

In the use of the present device, the measuring spoon is kept in the trough 9. Such a spoon is shown in Fig. 2 and indicated by the numeral l1. When material is to be removed from any one of the bins, the bowl of thespoon may be clipped directly into the bin beneath the trough 9 and if it is necessary that the contents of the spoon be leveled, this may be accomplished by extending the spoon back beneath the trough 9 as the material is being dipped up and then as the spoon is withdrawn raising it until the edge comes into contact with the rounded corner I3 of the trough. By withdrawing the spoon outwardly while maintaining this contact with the trough, the inclined bottom ll of the trough will smooth off the contents of the spoon and will also mash or break any lumps of material which the spoon may have pickedup. Thus it will be seen that with a device of the kind herein described, a number of cooking materials may be kept under one cover and that novel means is provided in association with such material cooking means for leveling the measuring spoon with which materials are removed.

Another advantage of the present device resides in the novel formation of the open front thereof whereby when it is placed on a table or other support facing the user, the bins will be in the right position for the user to most easily obtain the contents thereof and to level off the spoon. In other devices having spoon leveling means, such leveling means is usually upon the top of the receptacle and it is, therefore, inconveniently located, whereas in the present device, the leveling means is within the receptacle where r the one movement of dipping the material and leveling the same as the spoon is removed suffices.

In the leveling of certain cooking ingredients such as soda, it is very important that the measuring spoon be accurately leveled otherwise the strong leavening action of the soda, if too large a quantity were employed, might spoil the material being prepared and such accurate leveling is more conveniently obtainedwith the present .device than with devices of other types on the market.

I claim:

1. A material receptacle of the character described, comprising a body having a front wall and side walls, said side walls being cut back at a forward and rearward inclination to form a forwardly and downwardly inclined opening, a trough extending across said opening at the rear part thereof, said trough having a forwardly and upwardly inclined back wall constituting a partial front wall for the upper part of the receptacle, the said trough back wall extending downwardly into the receptacle and merging with a bottom wall which extends forwardly and which terminates in an upwardly extending front wall 'portion having its edge flush with the said edges of the side wall, the front walls of the trough being spaced from the first mentioned front wall portion of the receptacle, a partition extending rearwardly from said front wall beneath the trough to form bins, and a cover hingedly attached to a wall of the receptacle to overlie said opening and said bins.

2. A material receptacle of the character described, comprising a body having a front wall and side walls, said side walls being cut back at a forward and rearward inclination to form a forwardly and downwardly inclined opening, a trough extending across said opening at the rear part thereof, said trough having a forwardly and upwardly inclined back Wall constituting a partial front wall for the upper part of the receptacle, the said trough back wall extending downwardly into the receptacle and merging with a bottom wall which extends forwardly and which terminates in an upwardly extending front wall portion having its edge flush with the said edges of the side wall, the front wall of the trough being spaced from the first mentioned front wall portion of the receptacle, partitions extending rearwardly from said front wall beneath the trough to form bins, a cover hingedly attached to a wall of the receptacle to overlie said opening and said bins.

3. A material receptacle of the character described, comprising a body having a front wall and side walls, said side walls being cut back at a forward and rearward inclination to form a forwardly and downwardly inclined opening, a trough extending across said opening at the rear part thereof, said trough having a forwardly and upwardly inclined back wall constituting a partial front wall for the upper part of the receptacle, the said trough back wall extending downwardly into the receptacle andmerging with a bottom wall which extends forwardly and which terminates in an upwardly extending front wall portion having its edge flush with the said edges of the side Wall, the front wall of the trough being spaced from the first mentioned front wall portion of the receptacle, partitions extending rearwardly from said front wall beneath the trough to form bins, and a cover hingedly attached to a wall of the receptacle to overlie said opening and said bins, the said bottom wall thereof being forwardly and downwardly inclined and the corner formed between the bottom wall and front wall of the trough being rounded whereby to provide a spoon leveling means.

4. A material receptacle of the character described, comprising a container having a front wall and side walls, said side walls being cut back at an upward and rearward inclination from the front wall above the lower edge thereof to form a forwardly and downwardly inclined opening, a

cover hingedly attached to a wall of the receptacle to overlie said opening and the trough.

WILLIAM L. LONGAN. 

